What Bad Luck Can Get You
by Daryl Dixon Daughter7
Summary: Zachariah believes she has the worst luck anyone has ever had. be it being cursed to being hunted like an animal, or losing the one family member she has left in the world when the dead roam the earth, but when she meets 3 people that makes her rethink her perspective will she change for the better, or the worst? the summary kinda sucks but the story is aLOT better Daryl/OC/Merle
1. Introduction

**_Life_**_. Just a four letter word, but the meaning to this one syllable word is always different, and sometimes concluded as a mystery. But what most people don't realize is that they take this particular action for granted and some… well, some just go by it without a care in the world. Now what would happen if this particular privilege was suddenly, without warning, taken away? Not being able to laze around watching TV, waste time with menial problems like being dumped, or not being able to lock yourself in your house playing video games? What if suddenly the dead arose, empty, soulless shells of a once living person arising from what should have been an eternal sleep? But it takes the dead to rise, to force people to start living._

My luck has never been the greatest. Christ, think of the worst bad luck ridden person u know and times that by ten, you still won't be _close _to the amount to my bad luck. For fuck sakes my middle name is _Jinx. _Dark humor my parents had, course theirs know reason in speaking ill of the dead, com on where's _that_ gonna get me in life now? But one thing I _am_ grateful for about my shitty luck is the fact it kinda isolated me from other people, sure I got lonely and I eventually resorted to talking to myself but it was good in a sense; I didn't have the greatest people skills in the world, but hey in a way it prepared me for a world filled with the dead and being alone got ya far in terms of _survival_, so that's something, not everything, but something.

I was in school when this epidemic started; it was a catholic school that went from kindergarten to eighth grade. I was in seventh at the time. I hated that school, not because the religion part of it was complete and utter bull shit, mainly because I didn't belong with those prissy catholic douche bags. I was always on my own, no one ever bothered to talk to me though that was the way I preferred it. Kids mainly ignored me because I had this small twitch whenever I got agitated, restless, had the shit scared out of me, or when I knew something big was about to happen. My so called therapist diagnosed me with paranoia (my god it's called being _careful_) but that still didn't stop the kids from steering clear of me like I was an eighteen year old boot a squirrel died in.

_Anyway_ I started twitching like crazy that fateful day and I couldn't figure out why, the fact that everyone was glancing at me making me even more nervous. Finally, when the teacher had enough of me causing a distraction in her classroom (her words) she sent me to the nurse. I grabbed my stuff and when to the nurses office like madam Bitchington told me to. It was a good thing I left too, because if I didn't I would have never made it out of that school alive. Then I was off to my very first interaction with the dead.

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_**okay i just want to point out that this is my first time writing a fan fiction and that if i carry on with the little details, just try to work with me im gonna write more just give me time, i still have a LONG way to go and constructive criticism will probably help me so dont hold back on your opinions. thanks ;D **_


	2. Slaughter Store on the Prairie

I didn't know what to expect, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting what I saw when I looked down at Atlanta. One thing I knew for sure was to tell Shane to get away from the city especially with Lori and Carl in his care. I ran back to where the car was and saw Shane in the same position he was in when I left. "Shane, we have a problem." I said as soon as I got back to the car. He looked at me and so I told him what I saw. He got up from the car seat and went to get Lori. I told him to walk straight up the road until he sees the people gathering around. I leaned on the car thinking about my next move. I sure as hell didn't want to go into Atlanta _now_ that was for sure, so my best option was to head back to town and see if I can find a house or something to lay low for a while. I got my stuff to go, but before I left I wrote a note so those guys knew where I was heading. Then I got my sword from the back seat and left.

I managed to get back to town without running into the undead, but when I got there, there was absolute _chaos_. People where running around town being chased, things were on fire, I heard gun shots like you wouldn't imagine. I ran in no particular direction, but when I looked in front of me I saw an African American woman holding her neck and next to her was a boy that looked eight years old, and a man with a gun shooting the walking corpses in front of him and his family. But when the man wasn't looking one of those things grabbed his kids arm, I sprung into action and before the man could shoot the monster about to bite his son, I impaled my sword strait into his dead skull. The black man looked at me with gratitude in his eyes but before he could say thanks I saw one of those things was about to bite his shoulder, so I pulled out my knife and threw it at the dead body. I got my knife out of its head and looked at the man in front of me. "This way!" I said to him and when I turned to run, looking over my shoulder I saw him and his family running my way.

We made it to a house that seemed deserted and settled down there. "thanks for the help back there." The man said as soon as I made sure the house was safe. "Not a problem." I said looking at the way of this injured wife. "Did she get bit?" I asked with my hand on the hilt of my sword, with I put back into its holster. "Yeah, she did." He said with tears in his eyes. "You know what's gonna happen to her right?" I asked cautiously. He nodded and I saw that he saw what he needed to do.

A few hours past and the guy's wife tuned into one of those things, just like I predicted. He wasn't able to kill her so with using me as some sort of bait, we got her outside. Personally I thought it was a bad idea because I saw it would bite up in the ass later down the road. But it was his wife and as a stranger I had no right to say anything about it. Later he was staring out the window at the destruction in the small town. I sat next to him trying to think of something to say. "I'm Zachariah." I said realizing that we never really introduced ourselves to each other. "Im Morgan." He said lightly. I looked out at a particular corpse eating what looked like a dog of some sort. "I'm surprised all these do is walk or limp, I always thought that they would be able to run." I said mainly I was thinking out loud, but some of me was just wanted to get rid of the silence. "maybe we should call them walkers or something like that." I said trying to keep the conversation going. "Yeah… thanks again for saving my boy" Morgan said. He was still looking out the window at nothing in particular but I could tell he was thinking. "What's your son's name?" I asked wanting to know a bit more about him. "Duane." He said. "How long do you think we have to stay here?" Morgan asked, looking at m now ignoring whatever he was looking at. "I don't know." I said, and meant it.

A month and a half passed ever since the outbreak, or at least I _think._ive never been really good with time, and with there being no electricity and the fact I can't read a clock that's not digital, I really didn't have a clue. I've lived with Morgan and Duane ever since I met them the night all this started. I really enjoyed my time with Morgan and his boy but I still didn't feel comfortable with the arrangement. One reason being that I was still thinking about Troy, I told myself that I would find him even _if _Atlanta wasn't what it was all cracked up to be. Another thing I was alert about was my shit luck. I mean let's be honest my luck has never been the greatest in the world. Hell I always joked if I entered thought about looking towards a cash refund I'd end up _owing_ the government money. And considering I was with two people who was barley scrapping along and realized I was putting them in danger. I left once to see what was around, and told them I would be back in a few days, but my intention was to just leave them. I didn't want to put them in danger so I left for Fort Benning. I heard some people on the highway saying that _there_ was safe so I put my intent over there.

When I got there, as it turned out, Fort Benning was a pipe dream, just like Atlanta. It was overrun with walkers (that's what me and Morgan agreed on calling them) obviously from the amount of bitten people that they were taking in. I slipped in and out alive, but just barely. I got to their infirmary and cleaned it out and got things that I had a feeling _I'd _never use but I felt better carrying them. But seeing the fact that even the _U.S._ government couldn't even have a hold on it didn't make me feel any better about our current position. I went back to the house Morgan and Duane where at (with the help of a car that I hotwired) and just stayed there.

But one day I got to thinking; _what if Troy is out there looking for me? _That didn't help my thinking too well but that thought was always played over and over in my brain. I was marking this place on the wall upstairs to see how many days we've been there and decided that I would leave. I got my stuff to the door and told Morgan about my plans. "Are you sure?" he asked with concern in his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure. I just can't shake the feeling that my brothers out there, and sitting here doing nothing about it isn't helping my train of thought." I said. "Where would you go?" Morgan asked. "I don't know but I thought that maybe I could go to Atlanta. I know my way there." I said. Still thinking about the possibility that my brother was still out there. "Okay, I can't stop you. But promise that you'll be safe." Morgan said with worry. "Hey, it will take a hell of a lot to take me down. I've made it this far, haven't I?" I said with confidence. I told him to say goodbye to Duane for me, grabbed my stuff and left.

I walked to the gas station to see if I could find a car that had a lot of gasoline in it so I could hotwire it but what I saw was even better. It was a black Harley motorcycle shining bright in the sun. I've always wanted a motorcycle but I thought I would never get the money for one. I saw a golden opportunity and I took the bike, which I even had the keys in the ignition; it even had a full tank of gas. I put my bag in the compartment under the seat, got on the seat, turned on the motorcycle, and drove away. Considering I had to get my bearings on how to get to Atlanta it was a two day trip. I stopped into a house that seemed deserted and crashed there for the night. I was about to fall asleep on a couch but then I started to twitch for no reason I turned my head and saw a walker with its back turned to the door. I grabbed my sword and literally sliced it in half. That's when I realized that the twitching spasms that I had were a gift. Every time now thinking about it every time there was a walker that I hadn't expected I started to twitch! And I thought that it was a curse. I fell asleep a little after that silently cursing myself for not bringing a book of some kind. I made a mental note to find one before I head to Atlanta.

I left the house and moved on. I found a gas station to fill up the bike and when I was about to leave it started to rain I didn't really feel like getting wet so I headed inside but I should have probably looked inside before I went in. there were about fifteen walkers inside of that small building. I took a deep breath and charged at the small hoard. Looking back on it I probably shouldn't have just randomly charged at them, and I'm not gonna act like I didn't have a few close calls but in the end I killed every single one of them. I sat on the counter breathing heavy from the work I had just done and scanned the small room. There was some food there, not a lot, and it was just a bag or two of jerky, but at that moment I was so hungry I would have eaten anything.

After spending like an hour in the small convenience store I walked out looking at a map that I found in the store to see how far I was to Atlanta; which wasn't far, about an hour from where I was. I got on my bike and drove down the road to Atlanta. Before the bike ran out of gas, I made it to the city limits of Atlanta. I got off when it finally died and got my stuff. As I was about to close the compartment I noticed that there was a bag of something in the bottom. I picked up the bag and realized it was a hand gun, and with it was 4 cartages of ammo. (Just so you know I have like _no_ idea what to call the things that go with guns so if I say it wrong _so be it._) I stuck that lucky find in my bag; which I traded from a messenger bag to a Swiss Army backpack, which I found in Fort Benning. It was amazing that I found it there but hey you never know what you'd find in this world any more. I closed the compartment for the last time, looked at the city with complete awe and then I walked into the city, which I could already tell, belonged to the dead.

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**_ok next chapter update is here, i looked at the chapters that ive posted in the past, and I cant help feeling that they're too short. so im trying to make them longer. also i was wondering about whether or not adding different points of view around this point in the story. yeah a little spoiler alert you're about to be introduced to another main character. not gonna say which one though, so just guess until the next update. likes and reviews are appreciated and tell me if im doing anything that could be done better or not at all. thanks ^_^_**


	3. Merle

I was walking up and down the street of the big city when I was wondering where all the walkers were. The street was quiet, _too quiet_. I went a little further and saw over a _thousand_ walkers in one particular area, it was like they were waiting. I was so surprised by the numbers of walkers that I failed to notice the lingering one walking in front of me. When I turned around I got ambushed by said walker, I got a little scared during that moment, that was the first time that I ever got pinned to the ground by a walker, but I knew it wouldn't be the last. I couldn't reach my sword, but I was more concerned with getting the undead fucker off of me. I was about to accept my fate when I realized I still had I knife on me; reaching in the sheath on my belt loop I took out the knife and stuck it the walkers neck. Then I pushed it off of me, and then I stabbed it repeatedly in the eye.

I stood up, thanking God, or whoever called the shots in the plays of life, got my sword from the ground and moved back to my original position. I got a hell of a lot of walker blood and guts on me during that confrontation. I didn't give it two thoughts until I was about to cross the street and a group of six walkers came limping by. I was about to go on about, slicing each one of them, but they just kept stumbling by. That's when I realized, walkers knew it was their prey by _smell_. If I smelled like them I could just as easily walk by them. I took that into consideration and just kept walking but never putting my sword back into its sheath. I kept walking until I saw something that could hold some supplies of some sort or even people; I walked over to a building that I immediately identified as a department store.

When I walked in I could see that people have all ready ransacked the building. But there was a good chance that they didn't find what I was looking for. I walked up the fleet of stairs that someone was obviously going after. After going up the fleet of stairs I found myself on the roof of the department store when I walked a little further jumping of the small ledge that was there and what I saw after doing that was really an eye opener. There was a pair of handcuffs on a screw or some like than one end was hooked onto the part of the roof; the other part was covered in blood I looked at it and the deserted belt that was next to it then my vision turned to the severed hand that was on the roof, the blood spilling out of it still looked fresh. There was a trail of blood moving down to the other door on the other side of the roof.

The hand obviously belonged to a man. Though my first intention was getting off the roof all together, but something in the back of my mind was telling me to go find this guy, try to help him out, or at least give him his hand back. Okay not the _last _option in particular was more like a joke, but going to find this guy was all my mind was telling me. That little voice may sometimes mean something stupid, but that was what got me this far so I decided to listen to it and find this dude. It's not like it was gonna be hard, I mean he was leaving a trail of where he was, so with an exasperated sigh I decided to follow the trail of blood.

The trail led to some sort of office type place, like the administrative part of the department store I looked around the corner to make sure that there wasn't an undead sack of blood ready to pin me down. I looked up and saw nothing but dead bodies. I was about to say this was a dead end, find a book of some sort, and leave, but then I heard something that caught my eye. I walked a little farther and saw a man pinned down by a female walker. I had a feeling that _this_ was the guy that I was looking for, mainly because he was holding her off of him with only one hand but I couldn't help but wonder. He looked a little to sheltered and protected from the living dead walking around. As if he had a group of some sort. I was about to help him but I kinda wanted to see if he could handle it. He sure as hell looked strong enough to handle it himself but it was like something was holding him back. After watching this for a good five minutes, I decided to intervene and help him, right when the living corpse was about to bite his arm I swung my sword and in one swing I took the dead bastard down.

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After seeing that the geek that was about to bite his arm had its head sliced off, Merle pushed it off of him and sat up, expecting to see his brother. Or the dead beat pig cop that handcuffed him to the roof in the first place, but instead saw a female Mexican that looked fifteen or so, leaning on a sword with a smug looking smile on her face. After a moment of silent tension she spoke up. "You know, usually at this moment in time, some people say thanks." She said easily. After saying that she got an intimidating glare from him, then he finally said something. "I didn't need ya help." He said angrily, with a heavy Southern drawl. The girl scoffed and looked at him with a judging look. "Yeah, because before I stepped in, you were doing just fine." She said condescendingly. She then put her sword back in the case for it that was strapped to her back, and held her hand out.

"Need a hand?" I asked, but all I got was a glare. I thought back to what I said, saw the blood coming from his other arm, and remembered that he cut his hand off. "Pun wasn't intended, sorry." I said. After that, with the look of swallowing his pride, he took my hand and I helped him up. After he got to his feet he started to head to the door. "Where do you think you're going?" I asked with a hint of concern in my voice. "leavin', I ain't stayin' in here. Why do you care?" he said with anger in his voice. "Well you're talking about just walking out of here, into a hoard of walkers waiting outside, so you can see my concern in your train of thought. Not to mention the fact you'd probably black out from blood loss." I said. I was thinking after I said this; _it not like all of this is rocket science._ "Like _you'd _know" he said. Then he turned his back to me about to leave. "You need to cauterize you arm." I said briefly. Saying that caught his attention. He stopped then turned around to look at me.

"What?" he said with annoyance in his voice. "Yeah, you need to cauterize it to stop the bleeding. If you don't you'll end up passing out from blood loss." I said. "How do you know that? You a fuckin' nurse or somthin'?" he asked. Curiosity was in his voice but it didn't replace the annoyance. "No I'm not a fucking nurse. I've just seen a lot of medical shows and have read a lot of books." I said, starting to get annoyed with this guy. Here I was _trying_ to help him, and here he is questioning it. "Come on, I think there's a kitchen somewhere here." I said, and with that I just walked away, hoping that he'd follow me. I'll admit I was surprised that he actually did follow me. I found the kitchen without any trouble and I found a metal spatula and put it on one of the gas burners that I turned on, then we waited. "I'm Zachariah, by the way." I said. I started to have the feeling that just tossing my name around was dangerous but I thought; hey what the hell? "I care why?" the guy said, with his eyebrow raised at me. "I don't know, familiarity? What's your name?" I asked waiting for an answer. "Merle." He said briefly. I just thought to myself; _who would name their kid Merle?_ But something told me that he was the kinda guy who didn't get laughed at to his face. So I decided to drop the subject.

When the spatula was all heated up, I grabbed the belt that I found next to his severed hand and gave it to him. "Bite on this. Don't need you attracting every walker in a fifty mile radius." I stated lightly. Expecting to hear him bitch about that, he did the exact opposite and did what I said. After cauterizing the remaining part of his hand, I got the bandages out from my bag and rapped them around the bloody stump where his hand once was. I was kinda grateful that I actually held onto all those medical stuff from Fort Benning. "Thanks." Merle said silently, after I finished bandaging his arm. "No problem, it's not like I was ever gonna use these." I said, nodding towards the medical supplies that were put back into my backpack.

"How are we gonna get out of here? That my question." I asked. Not entirely certain where to go exactly. "You seem to have all the fuckin' answers you figure it out." Merle said condescendingly. I looked forward and saw a window, and right under it was a fire escape. I walked over to the window and looked at it trying to figure out how to open it. Merle walked over to it when he saw that I was thinking about using the window as an escape. "How do ya propose we open it-"his sentence was cut short when I used my gun to beak the window open. His eyes opened wide when the sound was louder than I expected, and three walkers where gathering to the bottom of the exit. "Are you crazy?!" merle yelled after the glass fell to the outside ground. "Sometimes the less graceful way is the most effective. Let's go." I said and with that I jumped out the window into the fire escape.

I put down the walkers that where gathered at the bottom of the fire escape and not too far behind Merle was right behind me. Then we made out of that particular ally, and away from the department store. I ushered Merle to a ladder that led to another rooftop so I could see where exactly to go. I was about to give him some help up the ladder but he was able to get up it with no problem. I got out my binoculars to see if there was anywhere to get to that wasn't infested with walkers. "Well this was a genius idea, getting us trapped on _another_ roof! What's your big idea now? Huh girlie?" Merle asked with sarcasm in his voice. "Merle with all due respect, _shut the fuck up!_ Your condescension isn't getting us anywhere!" I snapped at him. "Okay, okay. Don't get all overwhelmed over nothin'." He said easily. "Hey, make fun all you want, but my plans are what's gotten me this far, and for that matter-"I stopped talking for a minute when my gaze rested on the railroad tracks. "Is that a cube van?" I asked, it was mostly just me thinking out loud but I forgot that I had company now.

"Yeah it is, and over there is a tree. Why do ya care?" Merle asked. "I _care_ because that wasn't there when I came here, so that means we have a ride _out_ of this god forsaken city." I said in an as-a-matter-of-factly tone. "Well what are we waiting for let's go!" I said while going down the other latter on the other side of the building. He went down right after me and we started running towards the train tracks, but when I saw the number of walkers in front of us I started to see that maybe the two of us wouldn't get out of this unscathed. "Give me a gun." Merle said. I hesitated for a minute but then I thought _what the hell_. "Don't make me regret it." I said as I handed him the handgun that I found in the motorcycle compartment. Then we charged.

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**_there you go, we have introduced Merle into this story! if he's acting a little too OOC tell me because again, first fan fiction ive ever written. reviews and favorites are apreciated and i'll post the next chapter soon. thanks for your time =D_**


	4. Merle's Optimism and Zachs dower outlook

I gotta admit when that smallish hoard of walkers was limping towards me and Merle, I thought I was gonna do most of the work, but Merle was pretty useful with a gun. He shot the ones that I wasn't paying much attention too, and I would have been eaten alive if he wasn't there, covering my ass. After a little bit, Merle's gun (well... my gun which I expected to get back.) he ran out of bullets. I saw the situation at hand, and said the only thing that came to mind. _"_Forget the goddamn walkers; we gotta get the hell _out of here_!" I yelled. Merle nodded in agreement, and we ran for the gate that separated the train tracks from the city. I saw that the gate was already cut, big enough to fit both Merle and me, but it was closed by bungee cords. I unlatched the gate and re closed it after Merle got to the van.

To my surprise, the keys were still in the ignition when I got to the driver's side. I tossed my bag in the back and sat in the driver's seat. "Whoa, what do you think _you're _doing?" Merle shouted_. _"Oh, don't even start Merle! You're in no condition to drive! Just get into the passenger's seat and _stop you bitching_! Christ!" I snapped back at him. He hesitated for a moment, and then got in the passenger's side. I turned the van on, and then drove away. After leaving the city a few miles behind I looked at the acquaintance that was in the passenger seat. I didn't really know what to say, I mean we went through a lot together, even if I've only known him for barley an hour. I wanted to break the awkward silence like you wouldn't believe, but I just kept focusing on _driving_, mainly because I didn't really know what to do, driving for as far as I did was all touch and go.

One thing I _did_ want to do was ask Merle what happened with his hand. I may do crazy things sometimes but _cutting off your hand?_ That's just plain crazy, I was trying to get the guts to ask, or say _anything_ for that matter, but something in the back of my mind said just shut up and keep driving, and that's what I did. A few hours or so after dark I saw a fork in the road, and that made me realize that I had _no_ idea where we were going. I stole a glance at Merle, who has been deathly quiet since we left Atlanta, and saw he saw asleep. "Hey, Merle?" I asked quietly. When he didn't answer I thought for a moment on what to do. I sped up real fast then stepped on the break, hard. That got him up; though his reaction told me that maybe I should have found a more subtle approach on how to wake him up.

"What is wrong with you?!" Merle yelled in anger. "I have trust issues, or so said my therapist, but enough with the details on my personal life we have bigger problems. Where do we go?" I said, motioning my hand to the fork in the road. "How the hell am I supposed to know?" Merle barked at me angrily. "Okay that's helpful." I said, glaring at him, though I don't think he saw it in the dark. "Y'all seem to have all the ideas, you figure it out." He said sarcastically. There and then, I was starting to get fed up with his smarmy attitude and sarcastic demeanor. I put the van in park angrily and glared at him, that time I had a feeling that he saw my expression. "Why do have to make things so difficult?! Why can't you for once just help me get a heading of some sort? I've barley known you a few hours and _I'm _ready to handcuff you to a roof!" I yelled at him.

I meant every word of what I said, but I wished after I _did _to have left the part of the roof out of it. I could see it was still a sore subject to bring up. He glared at me with a glare that even started to _scare_ me a little. "Then why the hell are you still with me then." He said with his voice tight and controlled. "Because of the give and take transition that happened in the department store." He looked at me after I said that with a look of confusion and anger on his face. I saw immediately that he didn't know what I was saying. "Ok, let me dumb it down for you; _a life debt_." I said trying to get my voice to stay calm, but it wavered a little. "What are you talking about?" Merle asked, the anger in his voice simmered down a bit but it didn't leave. "I saved your life. If it wasn't for me, you would have died. So that puts you in my debt. The rules are simple; you follow me around this undead infested world, give me someone to talk to every now and again, and you cover my ass. The debt is repaid when you save my life." I explained. The rage left Merle's face and was replaced with his usual glare. "And why should I?" he asked, I heard him smile when he said that, the same tone he used when I pointed out the cube van back in Atlanta.

"Because one, you're in _no _condition to be on your own, with your arm still in bad shape, and two, this life debt is a two way street Merle. You cover my ass if we're backed into a corner and I cover yours. You're pretty good with a gun, and I'm pretty good with my sword, that's a good combination. We can't make it out in this world alone; even you saw that at one point." I said, but the truth was I knew if I was gonna still have some sanity left, I needed someone around. But I wasn't ready to actually say that to him. He looked surprised, but I couldn't place why. "How did you know I was with people?" he asked. His voice wasn't angry just curious and sounded a little accusing. "Well I don't see why you would hand cuff yourself onto a roof so I put two and two together." I said. After a thoughtful expression on his face, he sighed. "Fine. What the hell, it ain't like I have any _other _options." He grumbled. I took a small victory fist pump, took the van out of park, and started driving, and then I stopped the car one more time. "Where do we go then?" I asked. Instead of the sarcastic answer that I was expecting, he gave me a straight answer.

"The group I was with said somethin' about Fort Benning." Merle stated. "I don't think that's an option. I've been to Fort Benning before. It got overrun, so there isn't an option anymore." I said. Merle didn't say anything he just breathed loudly. "Then go left." He simply said, pointing up the road. I nodded in agreement and did what he said. We were silent the rest of the way. We kept moving left until we saw a convenience store. I stopped the van there and reached for my bag and sword. "We stopping here?" Merle asked while looking at the small building. "Yeah, we'll figure something out in the morning. For now, this will do." I said. I was kinda grateful that we found this place, I almost fell asleep behind the wheel twice, and I wasn't looking to recover from a car crash.

We walked inside, first looking into the store to make sure that there weren't any walkers. I gave Merle a knife, not the one Troy gave me, but another one I had, that I found in Fort Benning. I put down one that I saw in the bathroom, and from the thud that I heard in the next room, I had a feeling that Merle took down one as well. I locked the front door, and walked back to the counter. I didn't have a sleeping bag or anything so I just set my stuff by the counter, and walked into the back office to see what Merle was doing. When I walked in I saw he had a bottle of vodka in his only hand. Sadly enough seeing him with that didn't surprise me one bit.

"What are you doing?" I asked. A little annoyed that he'd drink at a time like this, he needed to keep his wits about him. "What's it look like I'm doing?" Merle said with amused look on his face. "Something stupid." I said lightly. "Care to join?" Merle asked, holding the bottle towards me. My first intention was to say no and tell him he shouldn't either, but something stopped me. I have been _way_ too uptight lately. Some might say you have to be in this type of situation, but I remembered the old me; who would have jumped to this offer immediately. _What the hell had happened to me?_ With that thought, and a little hesitation, I took the bottle from Merle and took a seat next to him. "So, do you have any thought on where to go long term?" I asked, hoping we could at least think up something. "No, I ain't seeing a point talkin' 'bout it right now. Worry 'bout that later." Merle said in a laid back tone. "Well, you sure are the optimistic, considering the circumstances." I said with a bitter tone, as I started drinking the contents of the bottle. "Yeah, well enjoy the little things in life. You seem pretty dower for someone your age." He said as he took the bottle from me. "Yeah well it's not like this world has changed into fairytales and glitter." I said. After a little bit of small talk and both of us getting pretty buzzed, I decided to dig a little deeper into his old group.

"Did you leave anyone behind at your old group? Like a son, or daughter, or girlfriend or sister… or brother" I asked. I had to choke out the last part because of the possibility of Troy being dead. I glanced at the man sitting next to me, he was glaring into space, but it wasn't a glare filled with anger, more like sorrow, anguish, regret even. "I have an older brother." I began. "or, at least I hope I do. We got separated at the beginning of the outbreak, he said that he was in Atlanta, but when I saw _that_ pipe dream go up in flames, I thought he was dead. But something told me that he was still alive, ya know? In fact it was the same little voice that told me to go find you after I saw your severed hand on the roof. I don't know whether he's dead or not, and it's the not knowing that's slowly eating away at me." I said.

I didn't realize until I was don't talking, and feeling Merle's eyes on me, that there were tears in my eyes. I expected him to say nothing, or just walk out of the room, but instead he just took a sigh of self pity and looked directly at me. "Yeah, I have a little brother. He's with the group of people I was with." He paused to take another sip of vodka. "Unlike you, I know my brothers alive, if he's my kin, ain't nothin' gonna kill 'em but me." He said with a small smirk on his face. "I wish I had _that_ kind of confidence in the possibility that my brother's alive. But he' more like that part in that Michael Jackson song; "The Girl Is Mine" Where Michael says "I'm a lover not a fighter." My brother could barely open a can of tuna without my help, so there is a _very_ small chance that he could have survived this mess." I said thinking about how pathetic my brother was.

"If it wasn't for the height difference between us people would have confused _me_ with being the older sibling." I said chuckling silently as I took the bottle out of Merle's hand. "Sounds like a powerful guy." Merle said sarcastically. "You remind me of him." I said, my voice starting to sound slurred. Merle looked at me with his eyebrow raised. "I'm not meaning in terms of strength, more like personality." I said defensively. "He has the same sarcastic demeanor as you, the thought that he's the oldest he's stronger, and everything in between." I said while handing him the emptying bottle. He took the bottle and laughed a little. I started to feel more eased with Merle like this. But the weird thing was when I mentioned how Merle reminded me of Troy the more I saw it. "Either you guys would have been best friends, or you would have strangled each other, though I think I know who would win if it came to the latter option." I said smiling at the older man who was getting as drunk as I was.

"Yeah." Merle said smiling and with that we continued the small conversations, until eventually blacking out from drunkenness or whatever you want to call it. But one thing I can say I picked up from Merle from the first night alone; is to enjoy the little thing in life, no matter how small.

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**_Thank you for reading this long over due chapter, sorry that i didnt update as much but i guess im just freaking out that school is starting. real life sucks i can just say that :P. anyway if we are going timeline wise comparing my story to the show, i think where we are right now is the night Amy died (Andrea's sister for those of you who don't remember because she had such a small part in the show.) I was wondering if you guys knew, how long the streach was in the show between season one and season two was; because im getting to that point in the story. if you know comment or whatever, that would be greatly appreciated. Favorites and reviews also something that gets me out of bed in the afternoons, tell me if there is anything I can improve on or if Merle is getting too OOC. thanks ;)_**


	5. Michonne, the Governer, & His Merry Men

_3 weeks later._

Life with Merle was definitely a change of pace from what I'm used to. Even though he has that default glare on his face almost all the time, he was a pretty optimistic person. Though he's a pain in the ass, like _all the time_, there was something about him that seemed so appealing. Maybe it was his outlook on the whole situation, or maybe it's because his personality reminded me of Troy. Either way, being with Merle was a hell of a lot better than being alone; that I was sure of. I never thought of the idea that there where others out there, beside maybe Merle's old group. But then again I thought that before I even met the redneck I had grown to like so much, but all of that changed, one fateful day.

It was the middle of an afternoon, and Merle and I were walking down the street to some town I've never seen before, though then again, the only place I'd been to at that point was Atlanta. Merle must have seen that look in my face because when I looked at him he had a smirk on his face. "You're not from Georgia, are ya?" he asked in a smug tone. "Well, if you must know, I'm from California originally." I said while rolling my eyes at the unusual question. "No wonder you've managed to get us lost all this time." Merle said condescendingly.

I stopped walking and glared at him, I may have warmed up to him, but that doesn't mean I have to like his criticism. When he realized I had stopped walking he turned around. "Well I don't see you doing anything to help with my lack of direction." I said irritably. "oh not this bullshit again, every time you manage to get us lost or you get frustrated, you go and say I don't contribute!" Merle yelled waving his knife-hand around. Yeah, I felt sorry for his only-got-one-hand ass and found him a fiberglass mold of what looked like a cast when I looked into a metal shop maybe a week before that. When I found it I welded some steel on it and strapped on a bayonet that I found during a run that we went on. I thought I would do a little nice in this world but apparently, as it usually does, it came back to bite me in the ass.

I just stood there, furious at the man and when he turned around to start walking again I grabbed his arm and turned him around. "Well it would be nice if you_ did_ help me once in a fucking while!" I said in a calm, but angry tone. He glared at me and just when I thought he was about to hit me I saw something that made me forget about how pissed off I was at Merle. "Whoa what is _that_?" I asked in amazement. I grabbed Merle's wrist and ushered him into the direction that I was looking at. When he saw what I was looking at he opened his eyes wide in astonishment in the same fashion I was. What we saw were two walkers, in dog collars tied to the front porch of a store of some sort.

Me and Merle walked over to the walkers slowly… well I did, I think he just followed. When we got directly in front of them they started to growl and tried to staggered towards us but the chains where keeping them back. I heard Merle cocking his gun next and I looked at him from over my shoulder. "What are you doing?" I asked as I turned to look at him directly. "Ain't we gonna kill 'em?" Merle asked with his eyebrow raised, and speaking in his usual presumptuous Southern tone. "Well if they where a threat I would say yes, but they aren't harming anything." I said as I paced in front of them, as they tried to lunge at me half heartedly but failed due to the collars that were around their necks. "Well they're a fuckin' eye sore, why keep 'em?" he asked. "Well it's not like they can _do _anything; their arms are chopped off so they can't grab anything, and their jaws are broken off so they can't bite anyone." I said as I waved my hand dangerously close to the walker on the lefts face. "It's like their docile." I finished as I slowly put my hand down back to my side.

Merle was silent for a moment and I exhaled out loud. "It means _calm_." I said as-matter-of-factly. But all I got is a glare in return. "I know what docile means Zach! Let me show you how docile they can be!" he said as he pushed me aside as he held his gun in his hand with no intend of putting it away. All I did was glare, I don't know why, but I hated it when people didn't use my full name, don't know why it's just a thing wired into my brain. Merle knew it too, that's why "Zach" or "Zachy" was Merle's pet names for me. That or either "girlie" or "Spic" because he thinks I'm Mexican. He raised his gun up to one of the walkers' head when all of a sudden a sword point was at his throat. "Very funny Zach, but I ain't moving from my decision." Merle said with a smirk on his face. "Uh… Merle? I'm behind you remember?" I said as I reached for my own sword.

He looked to his left as I gained my spot next to him and we both saw an African American woman holding a katana at Merles throat. She had dread locked hair and a Native American looking bandana tied to her hairline. She was wearing bloodstained clothes and the sheath for her sword was strapped to her back like mine was. She had an evil look in her eyes that made me and Merle _both_ flinch, I mean; I knew that we both had some decent glares but this chicks, _wow_. She wasn't glaring so much to me as she did Merle, guessing because he was the one holding the gun to her walkers' heads, or so I thought. "Um... we aren't looking for any trouble, we were just passing by." I said letting my hand slowly leave the hilt of my sword and fall back to my side. "Your friend coulda fooled me." She said in a deep, rich voice. But with no attempt to lower the sword from Merle's throat. "Oh you mean Merle? No, he meant no harm, r-right Merle?" I asked meekly, trying to make peace and avoiding conflict, but seeing that I was epically failing in doing so. "Like I'm gonna take shit from a nigga." He barked angrily at the woman next to him. "Um… I don't think you're in the position to make a statement like that." I said.

Now I was thinking;_ holy shit this dudes gonna die_ but instead of being angry at the racial slur directed at her, all I heard from the woman was a scoff. "Merle? Christ I wouldn't name a dog Merle." She said easily. Right when Merle was about to counter with something else, my left eye started to twitch. I looked sharply to my left and I saw something in the distance. We all froze in our tracks. Up in the horizon was the sound of a car engine, now I'm not the one to trust new people, this woman made that pretty clear, but these guys defiantly made my mind scream _run_. "Guys? Can we wrap this up?" I asked as I pulled out my sword from its sheath. The black chick removed the blade point from Merle's neck and turned around. When the cars pulled up and from the SUV in the middle, two guys stepped out, one was old looking with a machine gun at his side, and the younger one… well… I don't know how to explain him, but he was one white cat, all white clothes, and an eye patch away from looking like one of those villains that you'd see in those _James Bond_ movies.

The old looking guy was glaring at our direction, but the other guy was glaring right at Merle, but then I quickly realized he was glaring at the woman that was next to Merle, like those two already had a history. See? It doesn't take me long to figure stuff out without asking questions. "Are you together?" the younger guy of the two asked, with a deep southern accent, not like Merle's though, it was a bit classier than that. Now my original intention was to say; _no it's just me and him._ But something stopped me, it was that little goddamn voice that told me to go find, then save Merle. What did that get me? Just an obnoxious headache. "Well?" the guy asked again. I saw Merle about to speak up, so I acted fast and said the first thing that came to my mind. "Yeah, she's with us." I said. Both Merle and the black woman looked at me. The woman looked at me questionably, like she was unsure of my intensions, and Merle looked at me with a flash of anger in his eyes, but I just ignored him. "Well, well, well you _do_ have people skills, huh Michonne?" the younger guy said with a little amusement in his voice.

_Michonne_? I thought. That must have been her name, but I tried my best not to look surprised. "I see you still have your pets, huh?" he said. As he waved his own gun at the walkers in chains. "Fuck you." Michonne said angrily. Me and Merle were just watching them go back and forth, it was like watching tennis. "Well, we'd love to stick around, but we have things to do. Boys take care of them." The younger man said "come Lance." He said to the older man. They both went back into the SUV and drove away in the direction from where they came from. This left about eleven of his goons with us, all of them heavily armed. "Okay, we don't need to fight, okay? We can just talk about this." I said easily and calmly. But when I saw that they weren't looking to reason I took the element of surprise into my advantage and sliced three of the men's heads off, and when I slit another's throat I felt something push me to the ground and before that I heard a gunshot.

The others sprung into action, Merle shot two of them before they got him to his knees at gun point, and Michonne killed three by stabbing them in the stomach, from what I saw they killed those walkers that she had but eventually they got her at the same position as they had Merle. They stopped focusing at me because they thought I was dead, but little did they know I was wearing a bullet proof vest. Yeah I found it when we were going through a police station. I took it even though I had to bear through Merle's taunting, but it did prove wonders later down the road. I stood up and finished off the final two that remained. I helped Merle and Michonne up to their feet and gave Merle his gun from the ground. All he did was glare at me though, so I had a feeling that he was thinking that the fact we got attacked was _my _fault.

"Thanks." Michonne said as she got her bag from the porch then turned into the opposite direction. "Yeah, see ya." Merle said, still pissed off at the young black woman for holding him at sword point. "Well you could come with us." I suggested, but all I got was a questionable look from Michonne, and a _very _dangerous looking angry glare from Merle. "A word?" Merle asked as he grabbed my arm and led me a few feet away from Michonne. "Are you fuckin' crazy?!" Merle asked his voice tight and controlled with anger. "You and I travel around with each other, what's the difference if we have Michonne around?!" I asked, trying to get him to listen to reason. "We for starters, I don't like her, and obviously if we have her around, we have _those _assholes to worry about." Merle said insolently. "Me and you didn't like each other in the beginning, look at us now, we moderately like each other. Also we could use the extra man power." I said reasonably. "I can also see that you guys have no idea where you're going." Michonne said loud enough for the two of us can here. "How did you know what we were talking about?" I asked cautiously. "You guys didn't move too far out of ear shot." She said lightly.

"No thanks. Einstein over here may get us lost but we don't need ya help." Merle said condescendingly. I glared at him, and I was about to say something but then my face started spazing out and when everyone got quiet I heard those raspy growls and moans. So I had to get everyone away from there, even if I would never hear the end of it from Merle. "Um, guys? I'd love to continue this conversation but due to the gunshots that have just been fired I think we have to get out of here before every walker from a ten mile radius come here and eat us like a fat kid eats a Twix." I said nervously, darting my eyes from side to side to make sure we were still alone. Both Merle and Michonne got the message and all three of us got our stuff and left the front of the store front.

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**_I am really sorry that this update is late, my step dad wants me to "go out more" but i really dont want to. and introducing Michonne! i think im portraying her the right way but if you guys think i can do better tell me. also i had the thought of first introducing The Govener and his merry men. favorites, reviews, and follows are appreciated and ill try to update better than i have been. thannks for reading and nxt chapter is coming up soon. ^_^_**


	6. The Dream

After leaving the store front and dodging a few walkers here and there, Merle, Michonne, and I finally found a house that looked half way safe. There was like, four walkers in there total, but all in all it was pretty safe. But the walkers didn't concern me as much as Merle either A; killing Michonne or leaving her out for the dead, or B; doing the same to _me_ because I let her join us. During the entire time after that dude that was called the governor or something like that, all Merle did was glare at me, then at Michonne then back at me. Once we made sure that the house was safe, I went out back to see if there was a shed, so I could see if there was anything to barricade the windows with.

There was a shed, and when I went in, I heard footsteps follow me, and to no surprise, I heard Merles voice behind me. "Are you really considerin' lettin' her stay with us?" he asked, anger still in his voice but not like before. "I don't see why we can't have her around." I said shortly. I found a tool box but there was the problem of finding wood. "What 'bout that jackass from before? They didn't seem like the best of friends." Merle said as he grabbed my shoulder to turn me around to face him. "After what happened back at the store front I don't think we're on his friend list either, Merle." I said looking him in the eye. "Look I understand you're pissed at her for making you her bitch, but she seems to know where things are and at least you don't have to complain about me getting us lost if we have her around." I stated, silently begging for him to see reason as I tuned back around to find wood. Instead of a response all he did was roll his eyes and turn back into the house. I did a final survey on the contents in the shed, realizing I found jack shit when it came to wood, and went back into the house as well.

Once night fell I was busy blockading the windows with pieces of spare coffee tables and chairs that where around the house. Michonne was wiping off her katana with a dish rag, and Merle was glaring at the black woman while leaning on the wall. After what seemed like an eternity of both awkward and suspenseful silence, I decided it was up to me to break the ice. "Okay, elephant in the room, I'm just gonna say it, who the fuck where those people back at the store?" I asked looking at Michonne. I was hoping Merle would be the one to ask this question, but as usual nothing goes the way I want it. Instead of answering me all she did was glare at me, either that or it was just her neutral expression. "I don't think she can even talk, eh Zach?" Merle slyly said, with a smirk plastered on his face. "Merle for the love of Christ." I said as I put my hand over my face. "I can't see you two lasting one day without strangling each other, much less this entire outbreak." Michonne said as-matter-of-factly while she continued to clean her sword.

_She had a point_ I thought. How me and Merle have lasted _this_ long just the two of us would be the life of me. "Ok first of all, I met him a few weeks ago, and second can you just answer the question?" I asked trying to get her to cooperate. And just like that, she put her sword on her lap, and looked at me. "This guy calls himself the governor; he's the leader at this concentration like camp not too far from here. The men just pillage for supplies and other survivors to add to their boot camp. There are women among them; old and young who do the cooking and cleaning for everyone. But that's not all their used for. The young are used as sex toys whenever the men get horny or drunk, whichever came first, and the old and the weak? Let's just say that a beating pulse is all that separates them from the undead." She said. Looking at her after that was like looking at a Vietnam War hero who was recalling his past.

Ok I can be honest, it took me a moment or two for me to realize what she meant with the reference with the walkers but I wasn't exactly too subtle about it. "They eat people?!" I asked in horror. I was mentally hitting myself for just blurting it out, but if it happens once it happens a thousand times. I stole a glance at Merle and saw his eyes wide open. I looked back at Michonne and saw that she was back to her original position, acting like the conversation that was just held didn't ever happen. I realized that I probably got the all she was gonna tell me about this "Governor" dude, and decided to just drop the subject. I turned back around to finish barricading the windows. Merle just sighed, and walked away.

_A few hours later…_ after I got done closing up all the windows, and making sure that the doors were locked I decided to look for a room to stay in for the night. I settled on the room closest to the exit. When I put my stuff on the floor I decided to look out the window in my room. To my surprise I saw Michonne outside the window sitting on the roof, staring into space with her eyebrows furrowed. _She always seems to be glaring._ I thought with a small smile on my face. I quietly opened my window, got out onto the roof, and sat next to Michonne. She must have been lost in her thoughts because she didn't notice me sitting next to her. I tried to see what she was staring at, and it looked like she was looking at the sky.

"You can make out a lot of constellations tonight." I said, trying to start a conversation. She turned her head viciously and gripped the hilt of her sword, but when she saw it was me, she put down her weapon and sighed. "Why care? Their just stars." Michonne said as she gazed up to the sky. "Eh, it's just something to know I guess, kinda like knowing the different names of birds, or flowers, or stones. Just something to know I guess." I said. The young woman next to me just scoffed and went back to staring into space. "I'm sorry about what Merle was going to do to your undead companions, and for what that governor guy actually _did _do to them." I said remembering that I was going to say that to her like an hour ago prior to that conversation. "They were dead to begin with." Michonne said shortly. "So, um… Michonne is it? How do you know so much about this guy and his band of misfits?" I asked trying to keep the conversation going.

"I know because I was with them during the beginning of the outbreak." she said with her voice tight and controlled with anger. "Really? It seems like you hate that guys guts." I stated with my eyes wide open. "He was my boyfriends' co worker, so we stayed with him." Michonne said with a very evil looking glare, and that told me I shouldn't push that particular subject for the time being. "I'm Zachariah by the way. And the guy you held at sword point is Merle." I said realizing that I never thought of introducing ourselves. "Yeah I've heard you use you in-bread, white trash friends name before." She smirked.

And with that point she grabbed her sword, got to her feet, and went through the window of what I could guess was her room. "Yeah nice talkin' with you too." I said sarcastically. I looked up at the sky and saw the constellation for Leo, Scorpio, the Ursa Major, and Hercules. I remember wishing back before all this, when I was living in California, that I could see constellations in a starry night sky like this. But under the circumstances all I did was take a sigh of self pity, got to my feet like Michonne did a moment or two before hand, and went back into my own room.

"Your trusting natures' gonna get ya killed one of these days Zach." A deep southern drawl said behind me as I got back from the roof. I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard it. I sighed and looked at the man behind me. "How many times have I told you not to do that Merle?" I asked with annoyance in my voice. All Merle did was just smirk and close the door behind him. "Does it matter?" he asked still smirking. "No, just want to know how bad your listening skills are." I said condescendingly. I may like Merle ok, but Jesus .H. Christ he is aggravating! "How can you trust this mute bitch?" he asked with his arms crossed. "How many times are we gonna argue about this subject?" I asked mocking his tone of voice. "All I'm saying' is that she's just gonna be dead weight and another mouth to feed." He said with a false sense of being reasonable.

"Merle for Christ sake, why can't you just trust me?" I asked while glaring at the man in front of me. "Because you're usually wrong." He said insolently. "How does it seem that you always seem to bring that up every mother fucking day?" I snapped at him. Merle just chuckled under his breath and turned to the door. "How does it seem you stupid enough to just welcome that nigga with open arms?" he asked rhetorically and walked out. "Racist dick." I said as soon as the door closed, but I had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time we would have this particular argument.

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_Fear._

_That was running through her mind as Zachariah was running through the woods, dodging trees and rocks. She didn't remember why she was running, or what she was running from, but all she knew was that she needed to get away from her previous position and she needed to get away fast. As the young girl looked back to see four walkers chasing after her she lost her footing, tripped on a root, and fell off what looked like a cliff, then blacked out momentarily once the fall ended with the impact on a stone like floor._

_After regaining consciousness soon after falling, ignoring the pain in her back, she looked up to see the four undead corpses staggering towards her. As she reached for her sword, only to find it not strapped to her back, she looked around for any plausible help at that point. Her gaze fell on a man leaning on the end of the cliff with a familiar looking smirk on his face,shaggy dark brown hair pointing in different directions, his muscled arms crossed while looking at her condescendingly with crystal, Mediterranean blue eyes. With Zachariah's eyes pleading with him to give her any type of help, all he did was scoff, and turned around to leave. Seeing that she was on her own; all Zachariah did was shut her eyes and brace herself for the bloodthirsty monsters in front of her to devour her, but instead hearing the sound of four gunshots and hearing four bodies drop to the ground in front of her._

_Reluctant to open her eyes to see whoever was in front of her, shaking from the near death experience, she calmed down when a calloused hand was slowly placed on her cheek. Zachariah then opened her eyes and saw Merle crouched in front of her with a pleased smile on his face. Zachariah so happy to see him got up from where she was sitting and hugged him. "Thanks." Was all Zachariah could say, still shaking from the traumatic experience. "You did the same for me, kid." Merle said as he put his arm around her. She looked up at him and made full eye contact with him, her onyx black eyes looking into his blue eyes, which she was surprised to find out, thinking they where brown. Then she did the last thing she thought she'd ever do to Merle; she kissed him._

_The kiss wasn't exactly much, considering she had never kissed anyone prior to Merle at that point, and wasn't certain how long it should be. But she was taken by surprise when she felt Merles hand at the back of her head, pushing her lips closer to his. Her wide open at the gesture, but then closed again as she put one hand on his shoulder and used the other to balance herself onto his lap. Her cheeks starting to turn red as she felt his tongue snake across her bottom lip and was met with hers once she realized what was happening. blushing even more to feel him growing hard under his jeans. After a few moments the kiss was finally broken but not the end of their intimate moment. As soon as their lips parted, Merle started to kiss her heated up cheek, moving down to her neck as she felt his only hand trail up to the seam of her black sports bra, then pulling up both her shirt and her bra and put his hand on her breast as he carefully laid her on her back._

_He started kissing her stomach, slowly working up to her breasts with his hand still on one. Zachariah lying still on her back, with her eyes closed as Merle did what he wanted on her supple young body, her heart racing when he got to her chest, licking her aroused nipple as his hand pinched the other one. As she took her shirt off she felt Merle unbuttoning her pants, then slowly pulling them off along with the underwear she was wearing. He moved away from her chest down to her now bare legs, kissing the sensitive skin on the inside of her thighs. He took his one hand away from her breast and used it to take her left leg, and rest on his shoulder. Zachariah bit the inside of her cheek as Merle's mouth slowly moved to her aching womanhood, when out of nowhere she heard her name being called somewhere out of the blue…_

* * *

"Zach!" Merle yelled as he slapped my cheek to get me awake. He succeeded when that automatically got me out of my dreaming state. "Ah! Oh god what? What's happening?" I yelled caught completely off guard by the sudden commotion, only to find Merle glaring at me with his arms crossed to his chest. I let out an annoyed sigh when I realized it was only pain-in-the-ass Merle. "Jesus scare the shit outta me why don't ya?" I said while rubbing my eyes trying to keep them open. "Apparently I did, now get your ass up. Mickey want you to talk about our next heading or somthin' like that." He said. "Mickey?" I asked, wondering who he was talking about. "Yeah, our new friend. Now let's get going!" he said as he was heading out the door.

_Dream,_ I thought, _it was only a dream_. I sat up, staring at the ground in order to process the dream that I just had, but then thinking I should do that later before Merle comes in again. So shaking my head, putting my shoes on, and getting to my feet I got down stairs to see whether or not Michonne and Merle had managed to kill each other without me there as a mediator. But all I did know is that having the two of them there wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

_**i am SO sorry about this excrusiatingly long awaited update, i know ive been slacking on this story and its been lagging but trust me its going to get alot more interesting. im sorry for the racism on Merle's part but from what ive seen from the show, well its expected. anyway i said in the summary there was gonna be Merle/OC action going on eventually and so here's alittle taste of it. i also wanted to say that im sorry (again) for the lagging in the story but i just cant jump into stuff so fast, i have to build up to it, just give me time!**_

_**we will be introduced to Rick and his group eventually but for now your just going to have to live with just Merle, Michonne, and Zachariah for a little longer. and im sorry if the quick transition from first to third person kinda screwed you up, but somethings i cant explain in Zachariahs words.**_

_**the favorites and follows are greatly appreciated and if im not portraying anyone a certian way that they are in the show then please tell me! sorry again for the late update, (heh heh that rhymed. imma poet and i didn't know it!) its just that i go back to school in like 3 days so kinda swamped, ill post as soon as i can! thanks for reading =)**_


	7. Move Along

_Weeks later…_

Life with Merle and Michonne was defiantly not easy, hell it was beyond easy. The first week or so with the two of them was nightmarish; they always found a reason to fight, whether it was Merle being the racist son of a bitch he is, or Michonne countering with something else, and guess who had to be the one to break them up? Can't guess? It was me, why I got stuck with that job was beyond me. I guess because I didn't take sides, all I wanted was peace between the young black woman and the one handed redneck. But I got my wish eventually and they both shut up with the comments with each other. Instead of the racist names, he just stuck with the pet name "Mickey" with I guess he could live with because she seemed to really like that name. I guess they just ran out of things to attack each other with.

Since we've encountered that governor douche bag the first time we met Michonne, he's re-entered on our doorstep a few more times along the way. I seriously didn't understand the guys problem with us at first, (even though Merle had the idea that it was because Michonne royally fucked him over in some way.) but I eventually just assumed that it was because we took down a few of his men during our first meeting. It's not like this guy wasn't hard to manage we just move on when we saw him, all this jackass and his merry men are just more bastards trying to eat us. The only difference was that they could use guns, have a pulse, and drive. Though when I thought about it that way was enough to keep me up at night.

It's not like I was sleeping soundly to begin with. Ever since that dream with Merle that first night with Michonne in our group, they've been more and more frequent. The first part wasn't anything new; those particular dreams were running around in my head since I was with Morgan and Duane. But eventually those faded and they were just the sex parts with Merle. All I ever thought, when I woke up from them was "_what the hell is wrong with me?"_ Merle whatever-his-last-name-was (okay so I never asked. So? What are last names to us anyway? Especially _now?_) Is the last person I would ever end up with. He is the kinda guy you'd have one drunken mistake with, and then realize you got a drinking problem. But never the kind of person you would have a relationship with long term.

I was thinking this while I was in the kitchen of a new house that we had taken refuge in, one of the many houses that we've raided, while taking stock of what was left behind, a pretty good amount of canned food, bottled water, and one or two books that were actually worth reading. We were pretty lucky to find this place because before it we were just moving from one place to another, most of them barley lasting a night. "Ya keep thinking that hard, eventually your heads gonna explode." A southern drawl said behind me. I blushed despite myself, even though I was getting sick and tired of hearing his condescending voice.

"I got a lot to think about." I said while mindlessly stacking the canned food that we had. "What in god's name could you be thinking 'bout?" he asked with his arms crossed and his eyebrow raised. "None your damn business, that's what." I snapped back at him. I heard him chuckle behind me. "Pretty girls like you shouldn't swear darlin'." Merle said, that just made me blush even harder. I turned around to look at him, his blue eyes staring into mine. "Do you want something or are you just here to bother me?" I asked with my arms crossed at my chest. "Just wonderin' where our little navigator thinks we should head next." He said, sarcasm dripping from his words. "I thought you passed that job off to Michonne." I said lightly as I read the back to one of the books that we found. Right on cue after I said that Michonne walked down stairs with her katana strapped to her back. "The walkers haven't noticed that we're here, but it's only a matter of time before they do."Michonne stated in her usual deep monotone.

"Always looking on the bright side, eh Mickey?" Merle smirked. Instead of commenting on his statement, Michonne just glared at him. Obviously tired of telling him to stop using the pet name he grown accustomed to using, and then she turned to me. "I think while we're here we should plan on where to head next." She said. I nodded in agreement; I glanced at Merle and saw a smirk plastered on his face, so I guess they still looked to me for directions. "I was thinking that we should head north." I suggested. I looked at both merle and Michonne and saw the look of confusion on both of their faces so I realized I had to explain.

"I mean, considering all the walkers seem to be coming from the north right? They all can't be from the city, so I was thinking maybe its better up north, less dangerous." I explained. Everyone was silent for a moment or two, obviously mulling over my idea. Merle was the one to break the silence. "Let's say your little observation is right. What if it's twice as worse up north?" Merle asked, though he obviously didn't like my idea. "It's a gamble, I know. But we're running out of options. Once there is no more food in the city it's going to be more chaotic than it is right now, it's best to get out the area while we can." I explained, silently wishing that for once Merle would have faith in me for once.

I looked over at Michonne to see where she stood with my idea, but with her emotionless expression it was hard to tell what she was thinking. "Only time will tell I guess, but for now I say we just stay in this area." Michonne said flatly. What I figured from her answer she either didn't know what to think or she agreed with Merle and didn't want to admit it. I was a little pissed off, considering no one I was with had zero faith in my train of thought, but I didn't want to start an argument. I just nodded numbly grabbed my sword and bag, and went upstairs. But on the way up I couldn't help but notice the shit eating grin on Merles face; and I came to the conclusion that he must have thought that, in a way, Michonne agreed with him.

_How could I like that redneck jackass?_ I thought as I went into the room at the end of the hall and basically slammed the door shut. I then laid on the bed and closed my eyes.

_"Hey, Zach, if I ever got a girlfriend, what would you want her to be like?" Troy asked looking up at me as we were eating breakfast. I set my glass down without taking the anticipated sip. Completely confused at the completely random question. "What kind of question is that?" I asked wondering if my older brother actually found someone to love. "Just a question." Troy said as he shrugged. "Why do you seem so surprised by the question?" he asked glaring at me halfheartedly. "Gee, I don't know maybe because your seventeen now and no girl has ever given you the time of day? And possibly never will?" I replied sarcastically._

_"Man fuck you. If mom can manage to keep a man under her spell for a few months why can't I get a girlfriend?" troy asked with his eyebrow raised at me. "I thought you said Mom isn't a role model." I stated lightly as I drank out of the glass in front of me. "we'll continue this conversation later. You have to go to school now."I don't have to go, you just make me." I said irritably. "Mm-hmm bitch about it when you get home, your gonna be late." Troy said as he took my plate and put in the sink._

_"Kurt Colbain didn't finish high school, and look what he accomplished." I said as I reluctantly got to me feet. "You're not Kurt Colbain, just suck it up and go." Troy answered back while rolling his eyes. "Love you." He said lightly. "Love you too." I said in the same manner._

_I never would have thought that that was the last conversation I'd ever have with my brother._

* * *

It was common for whenever I was alone or having trouble sleeping that my mind would wonder back to happier times, before you had to worry if the next day might be the last day you spend on earth. Menial memories like movies and TV show I used to watch, food I used to eat, music I used to listen to, but no matter what my thoughts always had to trace back to Troy. His laugh, his warm smile, his eyes, and the way he used to be so over protective on me. But a voice in the back of my mind told me that those memories might be the only thing left of my brother.

At the start of all this I told that voice to fuck off, with each passing day and the dead population growing more and more, that voice just keeps getting louder, and I'm afraid that it might be right, I mean before all of this Troy could barley open a peanut butter jar without my help, so excuse me if I have my doubts. The other part of me says that Troy would be okay, that a few dumb dead bastards wouldn't be enough to kill him, but I still had my doubts.

When Michonne and Merle weren't with me I always thought about the last conversation that I ever had with my brother, at least thankful to god, or whatever is up there, that the last words I said to him was I love you. And one time just thinking about it made me break down and started crying, hell he was the only family I had that gave a damn about me, and he could be dead and I wouldn't know it. That was the first time that id shown any emotions except for fear, anger, exhaustion, or desire (referring to my problem with Merle) since this whole shit storm started. Though no matter what one question did bounce around in my head; _what was Troy gonna tell me?_ Why out of nowhere did he start that random conversation? I hoped that one of these days I'd have an answer, though I had a nagging suspicion that it would always remain a mystery.

* * *

The next two weeks where pretty uneventful. The lingering walkers eventually caught on that we were there and they started to claw at the windows and front door. Michonne said that if we just stayed quiet they'd eventually go away. But Merle grew impatient and tired of hearing the moans and banging he went outside, and maybe an hour later he came back covered in blood and seemed pretty pleased with himself. It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop on a sponge.

Though that little solution only lasted a good day and a half, because more of the undead came to the door, and we all decided that we had overstayed our welcome, and decided to leave. The night before we left was used to pack up the food and anything else worth grabbing. Well me and Merle did, Michonne was planning our next location. Though that didn't stop Merle from bitching and complaining about us doing the grunt work. He eventually shut up, though that didn't stop him from grumbling under his breath about it.

It seemed like hitting me over the head with a sledge hammer wouldn't knock me out. It's kinda ironic, not Alanis Morissett ironic, actual ironic. Before I couldn't stand the thought of sleep because of the dreams I was having. Be them getting eaten alive or fucking a redneck I could barley tolerate. But now I'd have given anything for at least five minutes of sleep.

I got up to see if Merle or Michonne were awake, they weren't the best for conversation, but they were better than nothing. When I sat up though, to my surprise Merle was leaning in the doorway of the room I was in. no matter what though whenever he was in the same room with me I always managed to blush. I just didn't get it, when I was conscious I could barely stand the idea of me and him being together, it made me want to throw up. Though there was something about him that appealed to me, though I couldn't put my finger on it. But no matter what when I was with Merle I always found my cheeks getting red when I looked at him.

"hey." He said easily. "Hi." I said back to him "how long have you been standing there?" I asked. "I wasn't watchin' ya sleep if that's what your askin' girlie." Merle answered lightly. I sat up and crossed my legs as Merle walked from the door frame to the bedpost. We were quiet for a moment until I decided to speak up. "So… what do you want?" I asked. "why always think I want somthin' from ya?" Merle asked lightly. "Because usually when you bother me, there's a reason. You've never been one for small talk." I stated lightly as I rubbed my eyes to get more awake.

"I don't see how you can relax here at all. Like a fuckin' horror movie." Merle grumbled. "Please, I was watching horror movies since I was five, it doesn't bother me. And to be fair our life is a horror movie now I would have thought that you'd have gotten used to it by now." I said. "So you don't scare easy then, huh?" Merle asked with his eyebrow raised at me. "No I don't." I said.

Then as if on cue there was a sharp thud outside on the roof and the surprise was enough to knock me off the bed when I jumped. Not the most graceful thing I've ever done, especially in front of someone other than my brother. I heard Merle chuckle and I started to blush like crazy. _Idiot_ I thought to myself. "Yeah you really don't scare easy do ya?" Merle said sarcastically. "Shut up Merle." I said as I got back on the bed. While I did that Merle walked over to the window to see what the noise was, though I had a good idea of what made it. "It was probably Michonne." I said. Merle looked at me with confusion and then I realized I should probably explain.

When we stayed at a house Michonne sat on the roof at night looking at the stars. Sometimes I was on the roof with her and made small talk, but usually she would drift off into her own world and I just left her alone. Though sometimes when I was just walking by an open window I heard her talking to someone. It took me like five minutes to realize that she was talking to herself and not anyone in particular. I didn't think much of it. Hell before this apocalypse even started I used to do that. So I didn't call her on it. Hell all of us had been through a lot and she was probably use to doing that, considering when Merle and I found her a month or so ago she was on her own with two mutilated walkers with collars.

Though when I told Merle this he didn't take it so lightly. "I knew she was fuckin' crazy." He stated. I sighed after rolling my eyes at the man. "Come on Merle let it go, Jesus she's been with us for over a month and you still don't trust her?" I asked completely amazed at the one handed man. And I thought I had trust issues. "You and me have been through shit, but you or me haven't been talking to ghosts." He said with his arms crossed. I realized fighting with Merle wasn't going to help with anything, l so I put my hands up in surrender "fine, forget I said anything." I said trying to keep peace between the two people I considered my friends.

"Whatever." Merle said flatly and walked out of the room, I had a feeling though this wasn't the last conversation that we'd have about this particular subject.

* * *

**_i am truly sorry about this extreamly late update. school started and ive had like a million things to do. i sincerly do apologize and i hope you can over look it, im crappy with updates and with school and all i'll try my best to keep posting more often._**

**_for those of you who have been waiting ever so patiantly for this installment of'What Bad Luck Can Get You' here it is. im sorry its still the power triangle of Zachariah, Merle and Michonne but i promise in the next chapter or so we will see new people... well people we know and love but people who are new to the story. sorry about the random flashback but i was thinking, instead of paying attention in math, about the fact i have no back round on Troy Andromeda (for those of you who forgot thats Zachariahs last name) so i decided to start developing him just from Zach's point of view._**

**_if you guys want to see anything else out of this story so far let me hear it. favorites, comments, follows and etc. are apreciated if there is anything you want me to add, put in, or forget, tell me! it can only be enjoyable if you people tll me what you want to read! thanks or reading, im sorry again about the update, and more to come just bare with me! ^_^ _**


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